The Habituation
by Pia P
Summary: Can Mac find the perfect balance between work and family life? The crime plot is based on episode 1 from the CSI:NY pc-game.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Mac was awakened by the sound of his pager. It was Jo. He looked at the alarm clock on his bedside table, 2.30 am. He left the warmth of the bed and went into the office. He grabbed his cellphone on the desk at and called Jo.

"Good morning Mac," Jo said eagerly.

"Hi Jo, do you know what time it is?" Mac said a little grumpy. He still suffered from jet lag. Christine and him had only been home one day after their honeymoon. They had had the most wonderful trip to Europe, where they had visited three countries in the three weeks. First stop was Paris, France, the second was Berlin, Germany and the third was Copenhagen, Denmark.

"Yes, I know what time it is, and I know that you and Christine has just got home. But we just got another possible murder. I'm working on my case, Danny and Linds are closing their case, and Sheldon is helping Sid in the morgue, while he is getting his cancer treatment," Jo said and Mac could almost hear her pout in the other end of the line. He let out a sigh.

"Okay, I'll be there. Where is it?"

"Thank you. It's in the business district. 350 5th Ave, the Empire State Building. Flack are there now, and he is waiting for you."

"You said 'possible' murder, what do you mean with that?" Mac asked.

"Flack can't determinate whether the victim is a jumper or a victim of a crime," Jo explained.

"I'll be there in 20 minutes. And Jo... Are you still at the lab?"

"Yeah... Why?"

"Would you make me some coffee? I think I'll need it when I'm coming back the the lab with the evidence," Mac said. He needed the coffee now, but there wasn't time to make a cup. Flack was expecting him.

"Sure thing Mac. See you in a while," Jo said and hung up.

"Mac?"

He could hear Christine's voice from down the hall. "I'm in the office, Hon," he shouted and started to walk towards the door. When he was out in the hall again, he saw Christine and she was walking towards him.

"Why aren't you in bed? It's the middle in the night," Christine asked, while walking into Mac's embrace.

Mac gave her a kiss on the top of her head and let out a little sigh. "Jo paged me. I have to work a crime scene."

Christine lifted her head and looked at Mac. "Now? But we haven't even been home in two days, and you're exhausted and still on Europe time. Can't Jo send someone else?"

"Honey, there aren't anyone else. They're all working on their own cases," Mac explained, and he could see the worry in Christine's eyes.

"But what about Adam? Isn't he ready to fly solo?" Christine asked. Right now she would do anything to get Mac back to bed with her.

"He isn't ready yet, not with a case like this one – we're not even sure that it's a murder victim yet. Look I'll be gone for a couple of hours. I'll investigate the scene for evidence, go to the lab, hand in the evidence and get some lab techs to process it. After that I'll come back home again," Mac said. "Believe me, I'm done spending all my time at the lab."

Christine looked at him and gave him a smile. "Okay, but don't hurry to much. You have to do your job properly." She reached up and gave him a long and passionate kiss on the mouth. "But for your own sake, I hope that it doesn't take to long. We have plans for tomorrow, remember?"

Mac looked puzzled at her. They didn't have plans for tomorrow. Did they?

"Oh Mac. You have forgotten," Christine said with a big smile on her face. "Before we were getting married for the second time, we had made a promise to Danny and Lindsey, that we would babysit Lucy, while they are on a training course in Washington D.C. It was you who arranged it that they could participate. "

And now Mac remembered. The past three weeks, he had spend all his time with Christine, in their own little bubble and he had forgotten everything else. "What time tomorrow, are they coming?"

"Around 11 am," Christine answered. "Their plane leaves New York at 12.45 pm."

"I'll try to be back home at 4 am, and keeping my fingers crossed that I at least can sleep when I'm home again," Mac said. "I have to go. Flack is waiting for me."

25 minutes later, Mac arrived at the crime scene. Officers from the NYPD had already been out with the yellow _"CRIME SCENE – DO NOT CROSS_" tape. Not that it would matter if the police line weren't there. The business district was always a ghost town at this time.

"Mac? What in the Devil's name are you doing here?" Flack asked surprised.

Mac chuckled. "What does it look like I'm doing Flack?"

"When did you guys come home?"

Mac looked at his watch. "30 hours ago. Can you tell me, what we have here?" He pointed at the victim on the road.

"Well he's still a John Doe. No identification on him. At this time it just look like he fell from the sky," Flack told Mac and looked at his little notepad.

"Hm...," Mac said and grabbed the camera from his field kit. He looked at the dead body. The victim was a black male. He was wearing white pajama pants and nothing more. From what Mac could see, then it looked like, his entire upper body was covered with tattoos. His fingertips on both his hands were bloody and torn. He had short, black curly hair, and a nicely groomed beard.

Mac took pictures of the victim's position on the street, the victim's chest, the victim's torn and bloody fingertips and squatted next to the victim's hands. "Have you seen his fingertips, Flack?" Mac asked and looked up at Flack.

Flack squatted next to Mac and looked at the victim's fingertips. "Yeah... We call skin tears like that 'flappers'. I would say, that he was holding on for dear life."

Mac looked up. That suddenly expanded the crime scene. It was crystal clear that the victim either fell or was pushed out one of the windows in the Empire State Building. And this building had 102 floors. This would suddenly take all night.

Like Flack knew what Mac was thinking of, he cut into Mac's train of thoughts. "But you have to figure out the right floor all by yourself. The NYPD don't have the manpower to a search so big."

Mac let out a big sigh. "Now I have to break my promise to Christine. And we're babysitting Lucy the whole week."

Flack had forgotten, that Mac was married now, and he felt a little sorry for him. "Look, it's not my call to make, but why don't you speak with watch commander? Try showing him the photo of the vic's face? It might be, that he can narrow your search for the right floor."

Mac stood up and looked around the body, for anything out of place. There was the usual dirt and rubbish, but some few inches away from the body, Mac discovered a piece of red fabric. He took a picture of it and bagged it. A few inches from the victim's right hand, there was an orange bracelet, with an odd logo. Just like the the fabric, Mac took a picture of this bracelet and bagged it.

By the victim's head there was a small blood puddle, and Mac took a sample of it with one of the integri swabs.

He stood up and walked to Flack, who was talking to one of the officers. "What do you make of this? Have you ever seen this logo before?" Mac asked and looked at the bracelet's logo - it was a skyscraper.

Flack looked at the logo and then at Mac. "Nope, I have never seen this logo before. I would say, that he probably had it on him when he fell."

Mac looked at Flack. "Hm... It must have been pretty important for this man. The distinctive logo might mean something," he said before he took the bag with the fabric. "What do you then make of this piece of fabric?" He showed the piece to Flack.

"Just like you, I didn't know what to make of it either. The only thing I can say about it, is that it's some kind of ultra light fabric," Flack said and shook his head.

Inside the Empire State Building's lobby, Mac and Flack walked towards the watch commander's desk. Behind the desk was young man sitting and he was looking at the computer screen.

"Excuse me. Are you the watch commander?" Mac asked.

The young man looked up at Mac and Flack. "No, I'm his assistant, Bill Travers. I'm covering for him. One of his kids was sick."

Mac briefly looked at Flack before looking back at the watch commander's assistant. He didn't look older than 25 years old and he was wearing a blue uniform. "I'm detective Mac Taylor from the NYPD crime lab, and this is detective Don Flack from the NYPD."

Mr. Travers opened his eyes wide open. "Oh... Is it about that poor guy out on the street? From what I've heard, it's a big mess out there".

Mac choose to ignore Mr. Tavers' last comment. "I'm going to show you a picture of the victim. It's not repulsive and messy, because I'm only gonna show you his face. Okay?"

Mr. Travers nodded and looked at the picture in Mac's hand. "Don't think I've seen him before – not on our security board anyway. And he's definitely not one from the building admin staff. I know everybody there."

"So you can see every person, who comes through these doors on your computer?", Flack asked while he was pointing at the screen on the desk.

Mr. Travers looked at Flack and then down at the computer. "Yes. We can go two days back in time and run a facial recognition software – when it's required of course."

Mac raised his eyebrows. "Meaning – your computer can compare the victim's face against your old security footage – see if he walked through the doors?"

Mr. Travers smiled proudly at Mac. "Exactly. I can give it a try if you would like that?"

Mac handed Mr. Travers the photo again. "If you would be so kind – 'cause I need an ID."

Mr. Travers began to feed the computer with information about the victim. "The first thing I need to do is to enter his info into the system, and the computer will do the rest."

Mac and Flack watched while Mr. Travers fed the computer with their victim's info.

"There. I've given the computer all the info it needs," Mr. Travers said looking at Mac. "It's gonna take a while to search all the security video. I'll let you know if we locate your victim." Mr. Travers gave the photo back to Mac.

Mac took the photo, and shook Mr. Traver's hand. "Thank you for your time. We'll be in touch if we need anything else."

Mac and Flack started to walk towards the doors, when an officer came up to them.

"Detective Taylor, the crime scene is processed and the body is sent to the morgue," the officer said, and Mac nodded.

"I'll head back to the lab with this evidence, and get the techs to process it," Mac said and stifled a yawn.

Flack raised an eyebrow an looked surprised at Mac. "Since when did you get your employees to make you work?"

Mac looked seriously at Flack. "Since I got married. I'm not married to the job anymore. With Christine I got a new chance to experience the feeling of being married," he said and walked towards his Avalanche. "I'll catch up with you later, Flack."

When Mac arrived at the crime lab, he dropped of the evidence to the few lab techs that was working the night shift. They started the hard work by processing the evidence, while Mac headed for the lab's kitchen. He could already smell the freshly brewed coffee out in the hall. Jo was the best. When he entered the kitchen, Jo sat on a chair with a cup of steaming tea.

She looked up from the case file she was reading, got up from the chair and walked up to him. "Welcome back, Mac," she said while she gave him a big hug. "It's nice that you're back – we've missed you."

"Thanks Jo. It's nice to be back home again," Mac said while pouring a cup of coffee. He then took a sip. "Ahh... Just what I needed. Thank you Jo."

"You're welcome," she said and placed herself back on the chair. "I still feel guilty that I got you chased out of bed."

Mac looked at her, and gave her a smile. "It's not your fault. I would've done the same thing," he said and took another sip of his coffee.

Jo closed the case file and looked at him. "May I ask, how was your honeymoon?"

Mac chuckled. "It was good – really good. It's not the last time we visit Europe," Mac said and took another sip of his coffee. He looked at the clock on the wall, the time was 3.45 am. "I'd better get home. Christine and I are babysitting in a couple of hours."

"Oh Mac," Jo said. "Now I feel even more guilty for chasing you out of bed."

Mac walked to her side, and gave her a gentle kiss on her cheek. "Don't be. That's what teams are here for," he said and turned around. When he came to the door he stopped, turned around again and was looking at Jo. "Goodnight Jo, see you on Monday." And with these words, Mac headed for the garage to head home.

When he got home, the clock was 4.15 am. He tip toed into the bedroom and saw that Christine was still asleep. Quietly he took his pajama pants and his old Navy t-shirt and headed to the bathroom. Five minutes later he had chanced into his nightclothes and carefully not to wake Christine up, he snuggled under the duvet.

In her sleep Christine turned around, and snuggled herself close to him. After a few minutes, Mac was asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Mac was awakened by the feeling of being stroked on the hair. He blinked his eyes open and the first thing he saw was a pair of blue eyes. "Good morning," he murmured and rubbed his eyes. "That felt nice." He loved when Christine was running her hand through his hair – it calmed him down after a hard and stressful day at the lab.

Christine bent over him, and her mouth found his. Mac wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her closer to him. She was much better than the annoying alarm clock.

After a while she freed herself from his embrace. She knew what it would led to, if they continued. "Not that I didn't liked that, but Danny and Lindsay will be here in 30 minutes. I thought that you would like to take a shower and chance clothes before they came", she said with a smile.

Mac looked confused at Christine and then at the alarm clock on the nightstand. "Damn, is it already 10.30 am?", he said while he struggled with the duvet. "Thanks for waking me up." He got out of the bed and walked towards the bathroom.

"You're welcome, any time," she said with a smile and started making their bed. "I can make you some breakfast if you want to?"

"That would be nice, thanks Hon," Mac answered from the bathroom. Christine could hear him turning the shower on. Boy, she wished that she could shower, get dressed, eat and brush teeth under 30 minutes. After she had made their bed she headed to the kitchen.

20 minutes later, Mac had chanced into his everyday wear. He was wearing a pair of black jeans and a t-shirt. He walked out in the kitchen and found Christine standing by the stove. He could smell that she was making him pancakes and he could hear the bacon sizzle and crackle in the pan. He walked up to her, wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his lips against the side of her neck. "It smells good," he said. "You're spoiling me."

Christine smiled and took the pancakes from the grill next to the stove. "I love to spoil you," she said and Mac let her go. Christine placed the pancakes, bacon and the syrup on the table. Mac went to the coffeemaker and poured a cup of freshly brewed coffee and placed himself by the table. Christine placed herself on the chair opposite Mac.

"I must say, I'm a little nervous about looking after Lucy," Christine said and looked at Mac, who was about to bring the fork into his mouth.

Mac laid the fork back on his plate again, and took Christine's hands in his. "Hon, Lucy liked you very much at her last birthday. As I recall it, you made me look like yesterday's news," he said raising his one eyebrow. "Normally I'm her favorite uncle. You have nothing to worry about."

"I hope that you're right, " she said and looked at the clock. "Well, I'd better get started making Lucy's room ready for her." She got up from the chair and gave Mac a kiss on his cheek. Then she disappeared down the hallway.

When Mac had eaten his late 'breakfast' he began to make the dishes. Just as he had put the last plate back in the cupboard, there was a knock on the door. He couldn't help but smile, he loved spending time with the six year old Lucy. He went to the door and opened it. The Messers had arrived.

"Hey Mac," Danny said with a huge grin on his face. "Enjoying the married life?"

"Very much, thanks Danny," he said with a big smile. "Hi Linds." He gave her a hug before looking up and down the hallway. "Where's my little girl?"

"I'm not little anymore!"

Mac looked to the left, and from around the corner, Lucy appeared with her hands on her sides. After she had started in the first grade, she hated being called 'little'. "I'm sorry Luce, from now on I'll always call you 'My big girl'", Mac said and squatted down. Lucy ran into his embrace and he lifted her up in his arms.

Christine showed up behind Mac and smiled at Danny and Lindsay. "Hi guys. Hi Lucy," she said and gave Lucy a big smile. From Mac's arms, Lucy waved at her.

Lindsay stepped inside the apartment and Danny followed. They placed two suitcases on the floor. "I hope that we've packed everything. Lucy's clothes is in this suitcase," she pointed at the red one. "And her school-stuff is in that one," she pointed at the green suitcase. "You can always call us, if there should be anything, or you can call Danny's mother," she gave Christine a paper with a phone number on it. Lindsay then looked at Lucy. "Okay Luce. Daddy and I are going now. Will you promise Mommy, that you will behave, and do everything that uncle Mac and Auntie Christine is telling you?"

"Yes Mommy. I'll promise," Lucy replied, while she fiddled with Mac's collar.

"That's my girl," Lindsay said. "Daddy and I will pick you up again in ten days." Lindsay showed Lucy both her hands. "And I made you this one," she showed Lucy a piece of paper. "With this you can count the days till we'll come and get you. Every night before you go to sleep, you and Uncle Mac or Auntie Christine can put a sticker on it, so that you can keep an eye on when we're coming."

Lucy nodded and looked at Danny. "Are you sure, that you can handle these two old heads?", Danny asked Lucy with a grin.

"Hey, I'm not old," Mac said and put on a pouting face. Behind him Christine chuckled. When Mac was together with Lucy he was so carefree, relaxed and childish sometimes.

Lucy let out a laugh. "You're much older than Mommy and Daddy, Uncle Mac. Daddy told me."

Danny looked from Mac, to Lucy and then to Lindsay. "Well Honey. I think it was the cue for us to leave."

"Nicely saved, Danny," Mac said with a smile on his face.

Danny held his arms out, and Lucy climbed over to him. "Bye Pumpkin." Both he and Lindsay kissed both her cheeks. He then gave her back to Mac. "Oh... Before I forget. The lady's schoolbag." He gave a pink backpack, with a picture of Hannah Montana on it, to Lucy.

With one more kiss on Lucy's cheeks from both Danny and Lindsay, they headed to the elevator. Christine closed the door after them, and Mac let Lucy go. Lucy looked around the living room, it was the first time she was in Mac and Christine's new apartment. "Where's my room Uncle Mac?" she asked and looked at him.

"Follow me," Mac said while he took one of the suitcases and Christine took the other one. They walked down the hall and entered one of their spare bedrooms. Right after they had moved in, they had decided that this room should be Lucy's room. The wall was papered with pink wallpaper. The curtain was dark red, just like the bedsheets. On the wall by the pillow, there was a night lamp formed like a giraffe, Lucy's favorite animal. Next to the bed was a white chest of drawers with pictures of 'Disney' Princesses. Opposite the bed, there was a small desk and a chair. On the desk there was a desk lamp and and a jar with different pencils and crayons.

Mac sat the suitcase down and looked at Lucy, who was standing in the middle of the room. "Do you like it?" Mac asked.

Lucy looked around the room before she looked at Mac and Christine. "Is all this mine?" she asked in awe and Mac nodded.

Christine squatted down next to Lucy. "Yes. This room is yours and only yours, Honey. Uncle Mac and I thought that we would go out and shop some toys, just the three of us," Christine said looking at Lucy. "What do you say about that?"

Lucy first looked at Mac and then at Christine. She then gave Christine a big hug and then walked over to Mac and gave him a hug too. "Thank you, Uncle Mac and Auntie Christine."

Mac and Christine looked at each other and smiled – the room was approved.

30 minutes later, Lucy was walking between Mac and Christine, holding both of their hands. They were on their way to 'Toys R Us' on Broadway, one of the biggest toy stores in all New York. Even though Mac hated shopping, he somehow looked forward to this.

As soon as they were inside the shop, Lucy began pulling and dragging Mac and Christine's arms and Mac tightened his grip on her. "Walk nicely, and don't pull and drag us," he said and looked strictly at her. Lucy stopped immediately and looked at Christine, who gave her a smile.

"Is there anything special you would like?" Christine asked Lucy and took a look around the shop. To say it was huge would be the biggest understatement in the whole world – it was gigantic. She too tightened her grip on Lucy's hand – not because she was giving her a reprimand, but out of fear that she would become lost in the large crowd.

Lucy looked around and then she looked back at Christine. "I would like to have some LEGO, a GeoMag set, a doll and some clothes for it...," she told and she mentioned more and more toys, she would like to have. Mac looked at Christine with a 'did you have to put it like that-look', and he knew that this would become more expensive than he had figured in the beginning.

45 minutes later they were all three back out on the street, and Mac felt like a mule. He was carrying four big bags, stuffed to the brim with various toys. Lucy had been richer in toys and Mac had been poorer in money. Mac opened the trunk in his Avalanche and stuffed the bags in there. Christine was walking behind him, with Lucy in her arms.

"Thank you so much for the toys, Auntie Christine," Lucy said and gave Christine's cheek a big kiss.

Mac, who had just closed the trunk in his Avalanche, turned around and looked chocked at Lucy. "Thank you Auntie Christine? What about 'Thank you Auntie Christine **and **thank you Uncle Mac'?" he said and took Lucy from Christine's arms. Christine couldn't help but laugh. It was so obvious the Mac loved Lucy as if she were his own daughter.

Lucy laughed and gave Mac a hug and a kiss on his one cheek. "And thank you Uncle Mac. What are we going to do now?" she asked and looked first at Mac and then at Christine.

"Well," Mac said and looked Lucy in the eyes. "How about we're going to get something to eat, and then we head home and play with all your new toys?"

"Yea," Lucy said and Mac and sat her down on the sidewalk again. He then opened the backdoor of the car, and Lucy jumped inside. Mac helped her with the seat belt before he closed the door and got in himself.

Much to Christine's dismay, Lucy and Mac had decided to eat at the nearest Pizza Hut. She had hoped to eat some proper food, but she was outnumbered.

During their meal, Mac's phone made a noise and he checked it. Lucy looked at him, while he was reading the text message. "If my Mommy were here, she would yell at you, Uncle Mac," she said and looked at Christine. "She always yells at Daddy, when he brings his phone to the table at dinner."

"And she is right," Christine said and gave her a smile. "But in this case, it's okay Honey."

"Why?" Lucy asked and took another bite of her pizza.

Christine swallowed her bite of the pizza. "Uncle Mac is the boss, and when you're the boss you're allowed to bring the phone with you to the dinner table," Christine said and took a sip of her water. "People should be able to get in touch with him all the time."

"Okay."

In the mean time Mac had placed his phone back in his pocket. He took the last bite of his pizza and ate it. Christine looked at him.

"Was it the lab?"

"Yeah... Hawkes has found something," he said and drank the last drop of his 'Sprite'.

"But you're not going to the lab today... are you?" Christine asked, even though she already knew the answer to he question.

"Look," Mac said. "I have to. It was me who collected the evidence tonight and it wouldn't be fair for my coworkers, if I just hand the case over to somebody else."

"You should first be back at work again on Monday. It's Saturday, and technically we're still on our honeymoon. And we have Lucy."

"Christine, Hon. With Danny and Lindsay gone we're understaffed. I have to. As soon as you're done eating, I'm taking you home and then I'll go to the lab. I promise you, that I'll be back for dinner tonight."

Lucy, who sat between Mac and Christine, looked at them both, like if she was watching a tennis match. Christine threw her napkin on her empty plate, left the table and headed for the toilet.

Lucy looked at Mac. "Uncle Mac, why are you and Auntie Christine fighting?"

"We're not fighting, Pumpkin. We're just having different opinions. Don't worry about it."

When Mac, Christine and Lucy was back at the apartment the clock was a little over 2 pm. Christine hadn't spoken one word to Mac the entire ride home, she was angry with him, that he would go back to work already, instead of spending a nice weekend at home with herself and Lucy.

After Mac had placed all the shopping bags in Lucy's room he went looking for the two girls. He found them in the kitchen, were they were talking about what to make for dinner. Apparently Lucy would help Christine making the dinner. Mac walked up to the counter. "Well, I'm headed to the lab," he said and stopped on the other side of the counter, "Luce, I want you to listen to everything that Auntie Christine tells you to, okay?"

Lucy looked at Mac and nodded. Mac then looked at Christine and he could see, that she was still angry with him. He walked to the other side of the counter, placed his hand around her waist and turned her around so that she was facing him.

"I know that you're mad at me, but I have to do this. I'll promise you that I'll be back home at 5.30 pm," he said while he was looking her in the eyes. "Bye." He gave he a gentle kiss on her forehead before he walked over to Lucy on the other side of the counter. "Bye, Pumpkin." he said and gave her a kiss on her cheeks. And then he left the apartment.

30 minutes later, Mac entered the morgue. Hawkes was looking at John Doe's x-rays with a puzzled face. "Hawkes," Mac said and looked at him. "I came as fast as I could."

Sheldon turned around and scratched his chin wondering. "Gotta tell you, Mac, I've seen over a hundred falls in my time, but look at this guy – fractures are expected, but..." Hawkes turned back to the X-ray.

Mac stepped closer the the light screen and looked closely at the x-ray. "It looks like his entire skeleton shattered," Mac said exactly as puzzled as Hawkes. "Something's clearly not right here."

Hawkes looked at Mac. "I've done a computed-tomography scan to get a detailed x-ray of his body. I wanted to see what happened inside John Doe's body on impact," Hawkes said and walked to the other light screen and Mac followed. What Mac saw didn't make any sense – at all. There wasn't a single whole bone left in the man's body.

"What the h...?" Mac looked at Hawkes and he looked as puzzled as Mac and that wasn't a good sign.

"I know," he simply said, "All his other x-rays show the same thing. The guy is like a bag of glass. His bones shouldn't be shattered _this_ extensively."

Mac thought about this information. "What about brittle-bone disease – where the bones are incredibly fragile. Maybe it's that?"

Hawkes looked at the body on the slab. "I'd say yes, but his physique doesn't square that diagnosis. He's muscular; build like a horse." Hawkes looked back at the x-rays and then at Mac. "The disease would prevent him from performing strenuous exercise."

"Hm...," Mac said and walk over to the body on the slab and Hawkes followed.

"And now it will become even more weird. Look what I've found on the back of his right knee. Here." Hawkes gave Mac a magnifying glass. Mac took it and looked at the area and what he found was indeed weird. Six puncture wounds in a circular pattern. What the hell had this guy been doing in the last couple hours of his life? Mac handed the magnifying glass back the Hawkes, but he shook his head.

"There's more?" Mac asked with an astonished voice and Hawkes nodded.

"Look at his shoulder blades."

Mac looked at both shoulder blades, and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Some strange kind of incisions. He looked at Hawkes.

"To begin with the needle marks," Hawkes said and pointed at the victim's right knee. "Those needle marks are unusual."

"Yeah, too uniform for a junkie," Mac agreed. "They don't care what vein the hit, just as long they get a mainline."

Hawkes nodded. " I'd venture to say the needle marks are professional. Either the victim is a doctor – or he knows someone who is..." he said, and then pointed at the shoulder blades. "Which seems to go hand-in-hand with those two strange incisions I found on the victim's back."

Mac looked at the incisions again before he looked at Hawkes. "Precise. Clean. But if it were surgical, wouldn't there be stitches?" Mac handed him the magnifying glass.

Hawkes shook his head. "Not these days – surgical glue is becoming more and more popular – though a fall like that would split the incisions open again." He put the magnifying glass back on the tray and took the UV-light which he gave Mac. "For the next thing, you need this," he said and pointed on the left upper arm.

Mac took the light and used it on the area. At first he didn't see it, but then he spotted a tattoo – a dragon tattoo and the tattoo was invisible, unless you used a UV-light source.

"Now that tattoo – you ever seen anything like it?" Hawkes asked and looked at Mac.

Mac shook his head and looked at Hawkes. " Not the exact design – but the ink yeah. UV-sensitive – big in high-end club scenes. Very tricky to work with. No more than a few parlors use this stuff."

"The chemical composition of the ink appears to be unique. Maybe you can track down the tattoo artist?" Hawkes said and looked down at the body. "While you're doing that, I'll do a scraping of his nails to see if we get any DNA. If we get lucky, we'll have a sample to compare to any suspects."

Mac looked at the body, before he looked back at Hawkes. "Thanks Hawkes."

Up in the lab, Mac went on the hunt for Adam. He found him by his computer.

"Hey, Adam. What do you have for me?"

Adam looked up from the screen and he looked strangely at Mac. "Mac! I didn't expect to see you until Monday."

"But I'm here now, so what do you have?"

"Well, I have processed some of the evidence from your jumper," Adam said at looked at his screen.

Mac looked at the screen to. "Anything good?"

Adam looked back a Mac. "Well, it was a surgeons scalpel that made those incisions on his shoulder blades, and a 16 gauge needle was definitely used for those needle marks."

Mac looked at Adam. "Hypodermic needles and a surgeons scalpel – what in the devil's name was this guy into?"

"So, what, he escaped from a hospital, hides out in the Empire State Building and then nose-dives out a window? Whoo...," Adam said while shaking his head. "I can think of a thousands better ways to spend my weekend."

"Here's what I need. Check around with the nearest hospitals, see if any of their patients legged out of their mid-treatment," Mac said. "Do you have more?"

"I also started to look into the UV tattoo Dr. Hawkes found," he said and looked back at the screen. "There are too many parlors in the city for a blind search. But we were able to narrow down the chemical source of the UV ink used. From that we got a list of the most recent shipments."

Mac looked over Adam's shoulder at the screen. On the screen there were two different lists, one with all the parlors in New York, and the other was the list of recent shipments. Mac looked through both lists, and only one parlor was listed on both – 'HOT POINTS TATTOOS'.

"Hot Points Tattoos," Mac said and pointed at the screen.

"Nice eye!" Adam said, and raised his hand in a high-five motion, but Mac didn't react to it so Adam lowered his hand again. "Uhm... Odds are pretty good that the victim got his glow-in-the-dark dragon at Hot Points. Let me know what the place is like. I might just want to get some ink."

Mac raised an eyebrow. "I'll be sure to get you a brochure. Thanks Adam," he said on his way out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Just as Mac was walking towards the elevator, he heard Jo shouting his name. He turned around and saw Jo come running down the hall.

"Mac, wait up!"

He stopped and waited for her. "What do you need, Jo?"

"Don't tell me, that you're on the way to check out a new clue?" Jo gave Mac strict look. "You're still supposed to on your honeymoon, for Heavens sake."

"Jo, don't you start too. It's enough that Christine's mad at me too. I'm just doing my job," Mac said and pressed the elevator button.

Jo grabbed his arm. "Mac, you promised Christine that you wouldn't live your life at the lab anymore." Jo could see, that her words didn't sink in. He's so stubborn, she thought.

Mac looked at her. "Like I said before, I'm just doing my job. Adam found a lead, a tattoo parlor, that might have made the victim's tattoo. That means, that we can get an ID." He got himself freed from Jo's grip. "And I've already made a promise to Christine, that I'll be home again for dinner."

Jo looked at her watch and then she looked at Mac. "It's already 3.45 pm Mac. If I know you, you wont be able to stop working. I'm coming with you, to make sure, that you're going home after you have been at the parlor."

"But what about your own case?" Mac asked. He didn't need someone to look him over the shoulders.

"It's done. I'll meet you at the car," Jo said and ran towards her office.

Due to a traffic jam, Mac and Jo arrived at the tattoo parlor 45 minutes later. When they entered the parlor, they looked around the place. It wasn't the biggest tattoo shop, because there were only three chairs in the room. There wasn't anyone in the shop, so Mac figured that they was out in the back. He walked to one of the chairs, and on one of the trays, there he found a needle.

"Found something?" Jo asked and walked up to him.

Mac looked at the needle before he looked at Jo. " Not really. These needles are the wrong size to account for the puncture wounds on our victim."

Jo walked over to the back wall and looked at a bulletin board. On the bulletin board there were many different tattoo designs. "No shortage of designs here," she said and looked at Mac.

Mac walked up to her, and looked at the bulletin board. After a few minutes, Mac had found the victim's tattoo among all the other designs. "That's our victim's tattoo," he said and pointed at the dragon tattoo design on the bulletin board. "This is definitely the place. Now let's see if we can finally get an ID on him."

Just as he had said this, a young woman with long, black, curly hair and a lots of tattoos on her arms, showed up from the backroom. "Welcome to Hot Points," she said and looked at Mac and Jo. "My name is Amy Yablans, what can I do for you?"

Jo walked up to her. "Hi. I'm Detective Jo Danville from the crime lab and this is Detective Mac Taylor, also from the crime lab."

"We were wondering if you knew the artist on this tattoo," Mac said while he was pointing at the tattoo design.

Ms. Yablans looked at Mac. "You like? That's my handiwork; it's easily one of my favorite pieces," she said and looked at the tattoo and back at Mac again. "I can cut you a deal if you want me to start inking you right now."

Jo looked at Mac and stifled a laugh and Mac shifted in his feet. "Uh, no thanks," he said. "Kind of a body-purist."

Ms. Yablans looked a little disapointed. "Too bad, though – would've looked good on ya," she said and placed herself in one of the chairs. "Then again, such an extensive piece takes a long time to put together. The last guy who got it was way focused; wore the thing like it was an emblem of glory – an intense guy."

Jo looked at Ms. Yablans. "Intense?"

"Yeah," Ms. Yablans said and looked at Jo. "When he did talk, though, it wasn't really to me – more to himself."

Mac stepped closer to Jo and Ms. Yablans. "Yeah? What did he say?"

"Well, sounded more like a guru 'tapping the source' than a dumb jock. Talked about taking life by the throat. Really private, you know?" she said and crossed her legs.

Mac began to fear that Ms. Yablans didn't knew the victim's name. "But you knew his name, right?" Mac asked. "I assume he signed some kind of boilerplate indemnifying you, in case you botched the tattoo?"

Ms. Yablans nodded. "Of course. A name as unusual as his personality – Clay Sandor."

Mac grabbed in his inside jacket pocket, took the photo and showed it to Ms. Yablans. "Is this him?"

Ms. Yablans let out a gasp, and took both her hands up to her mouth. "Wow, that's messed up. If you hadn't told me it was Clay, I'd never guessed," she said and looked at Mac. "Believe me, that tattoo's one of a kind. If your dead body had it, it's Clay."

Mac then showed her the picture of the victim's bracelet. "Have you seen this bracelet before Ms. Yablans?"

Ms. Yablans looked at the picture. "Yeah, I've seen it before. Clay wore it a lot, when he first started coming to his inking sessions."

Jo looked at Ms. Yablans and raised an eyebrow. "But he stopped wearing it somewhere in between?"

Ms. Yablans looked at Jo. "Sorta. I think it was like the fifth session when this Mohawk dude in a suit barged in yelling about wasting money on tattoos. Sounded like his mother," she said and looked back at Mac. "Well, Clay just exudes calmness – simply slipped the bracelet of and handed it to Mr. Mohawk – or one like it, anyway. Settled Mohawk down."

Mac looked at Jo before he looked back at Ms. Yablans. "Thanks for taking the time, Ms. Yablans."

Ms. Yablans gave Mac a smile. "No problem, sweetie," she said. "Come back if you change your mind about that tattoo."

When they were back out on the street, Jo looked back at the parlor and then at Mac. "So, what do you think?"

Mac looked at Jo. "I think we finally got a name for our dead body. Now let's get an address."

"Okay. I can do that, and you can get back home to Christine and Lucy," Jo said and looked at Mac.

Mac gave her a strict glare. "I'm not going home, there's still much to do before I can call it a night," he said and got in the Avalanche. Before he started the car, he called Adam and gave him the victims name, so he could look it up in the computer.

Jo let out a big sigh. He was so stubborn, but she wouldn't give up. She would make go home if it was the last thing she did.

When Mac and Jo were back at the lab the clock was 4.27 pm. Mac hadn't said a word to Jo on the ride back to the lab. He knew she was right – he should be home with the girls, but he felt obliged to at least find Mr. Sandor's address. Mac went straight to his office and sat down by his desk. He took the Sandor case file and added the new information. A few seconds later, Hawkes walked into Mac's office.

"Hey Mac, how's the case going?"

Mac looked up from the case file. "I could use a fresh set of eyes," he said and rubbed his eyes. It felt like someone had tied lead weights to his eyelids.

"Well, this brown eyed doctor is at your service," Hawkes said with a big smile. "Adam just got a call from building security. They ran that facial recognition program against two full days of tape. Turned up nothing."

Mac scratched his chin. "Means our victim must have entered the building more than 48 hours ago. Might explain the pajamas – since he obviously had to stay overnight somewhere."

Hawkes nodded. "And Adam have looked into where from the Empire State Building the victim fell. Do you think you could pop into him?"

Mac nodded and left his office together with Hawkes. A few minutes later they stepped into the lab where Adam were.

Adam looked up from the computer. "Mac, I have used the calculations from Dr. Hawkes, and the result is just not possible."

Mac looked at the screen. "Tell me what you got?"

"It's weird, because from the calculations, he either jumped farther than humanly possible or he started higher than the top floor," Adam said and turned to look at Hawkes. "You're sure you did your math right?"

Hakes looked offended. "Positive. And math never lies, Adam."

"My old trig teacher said that, too. I never thought I'd actually use trig," Adam said and turned his gaze back at the computer screen. "But it will be more easy to find the victim's address, now that we have a name." Adam wrote the name in the computer and after a few seconds there was a match. "What did I say – he lived on 449 W. 14th St. in the Meatpacking District."

Mac looked at the screen. "Hm... Looks like he doesn't have much of a record – a couple of trespassing counts and that's that," he said and looked up and saw that Jo was standing at the door. He ignored her. "Hopefully something at our victim's apartment can explain how he managed to defy physics."

"Your work is done here Mac Taylor," Jo said with a stern voice. It was only now Mac saw that she was standing with his jacket in her hands. "Now you're going home to your wife and enjoy the rest of the weekend. If I see you in the office tomorrow, I'm gonna sing _'Nessun Dorma'_ at you doorstep for a whole week."

Hawkes and Adam looked at Jo and then at Mac. She was the only one in the lab that could 'threat' Mac without any fear of being yelled at. Mac was about to say something in return, but Jo stopped him by holding her right hand up.

"Don't contradict me – go home... Now!", she said and gave him his jacket. "Flack and Adam will go to the apartment, collect the evidence and hand it in to be processed."

And with these words, she left the room. Mac looked at Adam and Hawkes only to find out that they had already left the lab, through the other door. He let out a sigh and took his jacket on.

While Mac was driving home, he couldn't help but thinking, if he was was taking Christine for granted. He only did what was required of him. He remembered what he said to Christine, when they were in Chicago last month _" __I've decided that I won't miss another second of my life, postponing things."_ And wasn't that what he was doing? Postponing going home to Christine? Kept thinking she would still be there when he eventually went home?

He hit the steering wheel at this thought. Hell no if he was going to fell back into the old groove again. He was married to Christine, and **not** his job. Christine was his life – not his job. The job was only a thing that gave money for necessities – nothing more and nothing less.

When Mac entered the apartment, at 5.15 pm, he could smell the food from the kitchen. It smelled delicious and it smelled Italian. He took of his jacket, hang it on the coat rack and walked out into the kitchen. Lucy sat on a bar stool by the kitchen table, and she was cutting carrots into slices. Christine stood by her side, and chopped onions. From time to time she stirred the pot. Lucy was the first who saw Mac.

"Uncle Mac," she said happily. "Look, I'm cutting carrots into slices." and she showed him some of the carrot slices.

Mac nodded approvingly. "Just be careful not to cut yourself," he said while he was walking over to Christine. Slowly he wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her a gentle kiss on the side of her neck.

"I'm sorry for this afternoon," he said. "I shouldn't have gone to work today. Can you forgive me?"

"You're right. You shouldn't have left Lucy and me," she said and turned around facing him. "When are you leaving for work tomorrow?" she asked a little hard.

Mac looked at her. "I'm not leaving for work tomorrow," he said and shook his head. "I'm only leaving the apartment to take Lucy to the park. It shouldn't rain tomorrow."

Christine looked surprised at him, and then she raised an eyebrow. "Jo threatened to sing _'Nessun Dorma'_ if you didn't go home, right?"

Mac nodded slowly and Christine giggled quickly and then she turned serious again. "I just wished, that you would like to be here, and not because of Jo's threat." she said and turned around again so she could continue her cooking.

"Hey," Mac said and pulled her closer to him. "It's still all new to me. I'm still not used to take some time of. I realized that on my way home." He then turned her around so that she was looking at him again. "I have to learn, that my work isn't my first priority anymore," he said and looked her lovingly in her blue eyes. "You're my first priority."

"Oh Mac...," Christine said and flung her arms around Mac's neck. She pulled him closer and they shared a kiss that became more and more passionate every second.

Suddenly Mac withdrew because he felt watched. And quite right – Lucy had stopped her cutting, and was standing looking at them. Mac took one step away from Christine, slightly blushed.

"Are you and Auntie Christine good friends again, Uncle Mac?" Lucy asked, while she was looking at him with a big smile on her face.

After dinner, Mac entered the office and placed himself on the office chair. He wanted to transfer the pictures, Christine and him had taken on their honeymoon, to the computer. After some few minutes he could hear Lucy call.

"Uncle Mac?"

"I'm in the office, Luce."

After a few seconds Lucy came into the office and she looked at Mac with a big smile. "I want to show you something, that I've build with my new LEGO," she said.

Mac gave her a smile. "Really? And what is it?"

"You have to close your eyes, Uncle Mac," she said.

Mac raised an eyebrow, but he then closed his eyes. He could hear that something was placed on his desk, something small and light.

"You may open your eyes now, Uncle Mac."

Mac opened his eyes and looked down. There on his desk was a car – a police car – build in LEGO. "Wow," Mac said astonished. "Did you build that all by yourself?" he said and looked at Lucy.

Lucy nodded proudly. "Yep!"

"It's very beautiful, Pumpkin," Mac said and looked at the car on his desk. "But why a police car?"

Lucy looked at him. "Because I want to be a policewoman, just like you, Daddy and Mommy when I grow up," she said and took the car in her hand.

Mac lifted her up on his lap, and he held her close. He was proud of her, that she would follow in her parents footstep, but on the other hand he wished that she would find another career than law enforcement.

"But not right away," Lucy continued. "I first would want to have my own band."

Mac looked at her, with a smile on his lips. "A band?"

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, just like in the movie _'Lemonade Mouth'_", she said, and looked him. "Have you seen that movie, Uncle Mac?"

Mac let out a little laugh and shook his head. "No, I haven't seen that movie, Luce."

"I have it on DVD," she said. "Would you like to see it?"

Mac nodded. It would be fun to watch a children's movie. "Find Auntie Christine and ask her to make some popcorn, and then we all three will watch the movie together," he said. "I'll be out in a minute."

Lucy jumped down from Mac's lap, and ran out of the office. Mac could hear her calling at Christine. Having Lucy made him feel complete somehow. There were sometimes where he regretted not having children. But that ship had sailed away many years ago. Becoming a father at the age of 54 was simply a big mistake. Then he thought, that he perhaps should send Danny and Lindsay to participate in various seminars and courses more often, so Christine and him could have Lucy and her future little sister or brother. Even though it only was for ten days, Mac, right now, felt that his family was complete.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

It was nice for a change for Mac, to watch a children's movie. He actually liked the plot in the movie. Five high school kids who all were outsiders, because they weren't jocks, forms a band and through music shows the principal that non-jocks also have the right to be in the school.

Lucy was sound asleep with her head in Mac's lap. Christine had fetched Lucy's duvet from her room, and placed it on her. Christine looked at Mac. "She's such a wonderful kid," she said while she got herself seated beside Mac and snuggled close to his body.

Carefully not to wake Lucy, Mac wrapped his right hand around Christine, and gave her a light kiss on the top of her head. "Yeah, she is. No wonder Danny and Lindsay are so proud of her."

Christine looked up at Mac. "So is you, Mac," she said with a little laugh. "Why didn't you and Claire ever had any children?"

Mac let out a little sigh and removed his arm from around Christine's back. Christine wasn't the first to ask him that. In fact, Jo had once asked him, why he didn't adopt a child, and he had just made her shut up, by inviting her on a burger bar. He looked at her. "The time was never right," he said and looked back at the screen. "You see, we got married when I still was in the Navy. One year after our wedding we had talked about moving to Chicago when I resigned my post, but then my father's cancer got worse – he was dying. It was due to him that we moved to New York. Claire and I still felt it was too early to start a family – we had both our new jobs to think of." Mac looked back down at Christine. "A child wouldn't fit in in our life at that point." He looked back at the TV screen, but without really paying any attention to what was happening in the movie.

Christine shifted in her seat, so she could look Mac in his eyes. She knew that she had opened an old wound, and she had to close it again somehow. "Mac, please don't shut me out of your train of thoughts," she said and placed both her hands on his cheeks. "Talk to me, please." she pleaded and turned his head to her.

"It's hard for me," he whispered. "I haven't told this to anyone before."

"You can tell me anything, Mac," she said. "I'm here for you. All ways."

Mac swallowed hard. "Six month before the terrorist attacks, we started trying to conceive. But it never happened," Mac whispered and looked at Christine. "On the morning of 9/11, Claire complained that she felt a little sick - nothing serious, just a little stomach ache. I told her to stay at home, but she wouldn't. She told me, that she would buy a pregnancy test in her lunch break, but then..." Mac stopped. He couldn't say anymore due to the lump in his throat and it grew bigger and bigger.

Christine felt her eyes water up. He didn't have to say anymore – she knew where this story would end. Claire never went to get a pregnancy test, because the first plane flew into World Trade Center's South Tower at 9.03 am. And now, 11½ year later, he didn't know whether Claire were pregnant or not. Christine couldn't believe that he hadn't told anybody this before – but then again, Mac was a very private man. She wrapped her arms around him, kissing him softly on his cheek and on his mouth. Her movement made Lucy wake up.

"What's happening?" she asked a little sleepily.

Christine quickly wiped her eyes and looked down at Lucy. "Nothing Honey," she said and gave Luce a smile. "But it's time for bed. Go and change to your nightwear, brush your teeth and then Uncle Mac and I will tuck you in."

"But I'm not tired yet," Lucy said and stifled a yawn.

Christine chuckled at that. "Luce, you have slept the last 45 minutes, so of you go."

The next morning, both Mac and Christine, was awakened by a knock on their bedroom door.

Christine stretched and Mac sat up in the bed. "Come in, Luce," he said and yawned while he was looking at the alarm clock; 7.15 am.

Lucy opened the door ajar and stuck her head in the bedroom. "How did you know it was me, Uncle Mac?" she asked with a grin on her little face.

"Well Luce," Mac said and looked like he was thinking about a big mystery. "There are three persons in this apartment; you, Auntie Christine and myself included. Auntie Christine is here in the bed with me, so that just leaves you."

"Oh," Lucy said and walked up to the bed.

Christine looked at her. "Did you need something, Honey?" she asked Lucy.

Lucy sat down at the food of the bed and looked at Mac and Christine. "I'm used to lie between Mommy and Daddy every Sunday morning," she said, and played with the corner of Mac's duvet.

Mac and Christine looked at each other before they made space between them to Lucy. Lucy then crawled over to the space between Mac and Christine and laid down. Mac gave Lucy some of his duvet and got himself pushed down against the pillow again. After a while, all tree of them fell asleep again.

When Mac opened his eyes again, he was alone in the bedroom. He turned to his side to look at the alarm clock, and to his big surprise it was nearly 10.15 am. He got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. After he got dressed he went on a hunt to find his two girls – he found them in the living room, sitting on the floor on an island of LEGO bricks.

Christine were looking in the building instructions. "Luce, we need to find four gray bricks in the size 2x6." She looked up and saw Mac. "Hey sleepyhead. Sleept well?"

"Yea," he said and scratched his chin. "I just can't believe that I slept so long." Mac went to them and squatted. He then leaned in against Christine and gave her a kiss on her mouth and then he leaned over to Lucy, who still was searching for those bricks, and gave her a kiss on her head. "What are you ladies building?"

"Trying to build a farmhouse," Christine said and showed Mac the building instructions. "But it's not easy with all those different bricks."

Mac let out a big laugh. "You'll just have to follow the instructions Hon," he said with a smirk on his lips. "Why don't you go out and make some pancakes, and then Lucy and I will build this farmhouse?"

Christine looked at Mac with a pout on her face. "I **AM** following the instructions, Mac!"

Mac held his hands up in the air, gesturing his surrender.

"Auntie Christine," Lucy said and showed her the four gray bricks. "I've found them. Where do they go?"

Christine looked in the building instructions and then at the weird looking farmhouse on the floor. "Uhm... I'm not sure, Luce."

Mac had to bite his lower lip in order to keep his giggling back. He then seated himself on the floor and took the building instructions out of Christine's hands. "Hon, let me build this farmhouse with Lucy."

Three hours later, Mac and Lucy were walking in Central Park – they were on their way to one of the playgrounds. Lucy was running through every puddle on the path, and Mac praised the Lord she was wearing her waterproof clothing and her wellies. Every once in a while he shouted at her, when he thought she was too far away from him. Suddenly his phone beeped. He took it out of his pocket and saw it was from Flack.

"_Can you come to_

_Clay Sandor's apartment?_

_ASAP!"_

He looked at Lucy and back at his phone again. Mac decided to call Flack to find out why he was needed there.

Flack answered on the second ring. "Flack."

"Hi Flack, it's me."

"Did you get my text?," Flack asked, and Mac could hear that something was bothering him.

"Yes, that's why I'm calling," Mac said. "Are you having some sort of trouble at his apartment?"

"Well, Adam and I have taken everything, but there is some sort of box that we can't quite figure out, what to do with."

Mac looked at Lucy, who was walking back to him. Apparently she was wondering why he was standing still. "Flack, I can't come in. I'm in the park with Lucy."

"Take her with you," Flack said. "I would love to look after her, when you're up in the apartment."

Mac shook his head. "Flack, I can't. I'm still on my honeymoon. If you still don't know what's the box is for when you get back to the lab, then have Adam dust it for prints, and then I'll look at it tomorrow when I'm back at the lab," he said even though he wanted to drive to Clay Sandor's apartment right away and check the place out himself.

At the other end of the line, Flack let out a loud sigh. "Okay, fine. We'll do that," he said a little disappointed. "I'll see you tomorrow." And then he ended the call.

Mac felt someone tug his right jacket sleeve. He looked down and it was Lucy. She looked up at him with big eyes. "We're going home again, aren't we?"

Mac squatted in front of her, and looked into her eyes. "I've promised to take you down to the playground, and I'm keeping that promise," he said and pulled her into a big hug and he could feel Lucy's arms around his neck. "In fact," he said, "I'll race you the the playground."

Lucy looked at him with a big smile on he face, before she turned around and ran towards the playground.

Later that evening, when Lucy was put to bed, Mac and Christine sat on the couch and watched a movie. Christine was all snuggled up against Mac's body, and Mac had his left arm around her waist.

"Thank you for a wonderful honeymoon, Mac," Christine said and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "Promise me, that it won't be our last trip to Europe."

Mac pulled her close to him and kissed the top of her head. "You're welcome, and I can guarantee you, that we'll visit Europe another time."

Christine placed her head on Mac's chest. "Are you sure, that you'll drop Lucy of at her school tomorrow?" she asked him. "I'll drop her of if you like. I know that you have that case you're working on."

"We'll stick to our plan," Mac said. "We take turns to bring her to school and picking her up. I'll do it tomorrow and you'll do it the day after that and so on."

They both continued to watch the movie, when Lucy suddenly called from her room. Mac got up, walked to her room and opened the door. "Yes Pumpkin," he said and looked at Lucy.

"I'm thirsty."

Mac gave her a smile. "Okay," he said. "Stay in bed. I'll bring you some water." He left the room and headed for the kitchen. On his way he met Christine, and he mimed the word 'thirsty' to her. Christine nodded and got herself seated on the couch again.

Out in the kitchen, Mac poured some water in a glass and took it back to Lucy's room.

"Thank you, Uncle Mac," Lucy said and drank all of the water.

"You're welcome, Pumpkin," he said and took the now empty glass from Lucy. "Now, go to sleep. It's a school day tomorrow." He gave her a light kiss on her forehead, got up from the bed and walked to the door.

"Goodnight, Uncle Mac."

Mac turned around in the doorway. "Goodnight Pumpkin," he said with a smile. "Sweet dreams. See you tomorrow."

At precisely 6.30 am, Christine knocked on Lucy's door, opened it and stepped inside the room. She walked over to the window and pulled the curtain and she then seated herself on Lucy's bedside.

"Luce, Honey," Christine said while she shook her gently. "Time to get up."

Lucy snuggled deeper under the duvet, and mumbled something incomprehensible.

Christine chuckled and shook her again. "C'mon Luce," she said and leaned down to Lucy's ear. "Or would you prefer Uncle Mac to wake you with ice cold water?"

Lucy sat up strait in bed and looked with big eyes on Christine. "He wouldn't do that," she whispered. "Would he, Auntie Christine?"

"Well Luce, I wouldn't dare to find out," Christine said and took one of Lucy's tousled locks of hair and put it behind her ear. She thought back to the one morning before their trip to Chicago, where Mac had 'threatened' her, to get a bucket of ice water down her neck.

With one more look at Christine, Lucy jumped out of the bed and headed to the bathroom. Christine then quickly made Lucy's bed an walked out in the kitchen, where Mac already were sitting by the table, eating his oatmeal. Christine sat down by the table and began to eat her omelet. She looked at Mac, who was reading in his paper.

"Did you get the little lady awakened?" he asked and looked up from the paper. He took another bite of his oatmeal.

Christine gave him a smile. "Yes," she gave Mac a mischievously grin. "I did."

Mac looked at her and raised one of his eyebrows. "Why that grin?"

Christine shrugged. "I told her, if she didn't get up, you would trow a bucket full of ice cold water at her," Christine answered and took another bite of her omelet.

"Oh you did, did you?" Mac said in amusement. "Be careful that I'm not demanding payment for using my methods."

Just then Lucy came running down the hall and into the kitchen. Mac looked at her with a smile on his face. "Good morning Pumpkin. Slept well?"

Lucy got seated by the table and nodded. "Yes I did, Uncle Mac."

"What do you want for breakfast, Honey?" Christine got up from the chair and looked at Lucy. "You can choose between oatmeal and omelet."

Lucy wrinkled her nose and looked at Christine. "I want pancakes, Auntie Christine."

"Pancakes are only for weekends," Christine said with a smile. "You can choose between oatmeal and omelet."

Lucy crossed her arms and were pouting. "But I want pancakes!" she yelled.

Christine looked at Mac for some kind of backup. Mac laid down his paper down his paper and looked strictly at Lucy. "Neither me or Christine want to start our week with a fight," he said, his voice hard. "If you can't choose between the oatmeal or the omelet yourself, then Christine is going to choose for you. And what ever she choose, you'll have to eat." He leaned in closer to her. "Is that understood?"

Lucy's eyes began to be filled with water and she gave Mac her best puppy-dog eyes, but he just shook his head. "Those puppy-dog eyes won't work right now Lucy," he said. "I'm only gonna ask you one more time. What do you want to eat? Oatmeal or omelet?"

"Omelet," she said with a pout on her face. Christine took a plate from the cupboard and poured a portion up to Lucy.

"Here Luce," Christine said and placed the plate in front of her. She then turned to the refrigerator, found the orange juice and poured a glass and placed it next to Lucy's plate.

Lucy didn't say anything, but she just poked the omelet.

"Don't poke the food Lucy," Mac said and gave her a strict glance. "As soon as you have eaten, you go to your room and get dressed in the clothes you and Christine took out yesterday. When you're dressed, you'll stay in your room until I'm driving you to school."

Lucy looked at him. "But, Uncle Mac..."

"No 'Uncle Mac' me," Mac said in a strict voice. "You had plenty of time to correct your behavior, but you didn't – and for that there's a consequence. Now eat your breakfast."

Mac arrived at the lab at 8.20 am. He walked into his office and plopped down in his chair without hanging his jacket on the coat rack. He surely hoped that this was the last morning where Lucy had this behavior, because he felt both a little exhausted and grumpy. And that wasn't a good sign with the mountain of paperwork he had to go through today.

"I can see that my little threat helped... Whoa, did Christine switch you orange juice out with a lemon juice?"

Jo had walked into his office, but she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the look on Mac's face. Slowly she moved to Mac's desk, as if she approached a wild and ferocious animal. "Is everything okay?", she asked when she got seated in the chair opposite Mac.

Mac let out a sigh and took hold of the bridge of the nose. "I'm fine," he said and looked at her. Jo gave him the 'I-know-you're-not-telling-the-truth' look urging him to continue. Mac got up from the chair, walked to the coat rack and hung his jacket on it, before walking back to his chair.

"I just had a tough morning with Lucy," he explained and god seated in his chair again. "We had a big discussion about breakfast. She wanted pancakes, and when we told her that pancakes were only a weekend thing, she became mad and refused to eat nicely. Therefore, after she had eaten, I sent her back to her room until we were ready to leave the apartment."

Jo smirked. "I remember when Ellie was in that age. We had so many quarrels," Jo said and then she leaned forward and supported her elbows on his desk. "Mac, this is normal for a girl her age. She's just testing your boundaries – what can I do and what can't I do?. And you passed the test with flying colors."

Mac raised an eyebrow and looked questioningly at Jo. "Oh, c'mon Mac," Jo said. "Stop doubting yourself. You're a good uncle and you would be a great father.

"Jo – stop," Mac said. "We have been down this road before."

Just as Jo was about to say something, Adam knocked on the door. "Good morning Mac. Do you have time to look at some of the effects, that we took from Clay Sondor's apartment?"

Mac nodded. "I'll be there in five minutes," he said and got up from the chair. "I'll need some coffee first."

Adam gave Mac a thumbs-up sign and left the office. "Talk to you later?" Mac asked Jo and she nodded, and left the office.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Seven minutes later, Mac walked into the lab. Adam and Flack was in there already and they had placed all the objects they had gathered in Clays apartment. "We now know how he died," Mac said and walked to the table. "Let's see if there's any clues in how he lived."

Mac looked at all the different objects on the table. As far as he could see there were a poster, two paper articles, some gears, a wooden box and some pills. The first thing Mac took was the poster with a high building on it. Where it was from, Mac couldn't tell, but it looked like the building was placed at some sort of beach. In the top left corner, someone had written:

_'Hey Clay. Let's conquer this next. Linc'_

Mac looked at Flack. "Do you know who this Linc-person is?"

Flack shook his head. "I'm still looking into that."

"Hm...," Mac said and placed the poster back on the table. The next object he took was an article and from the color of if, Mac would guess that it was a little old. The headline said:

_'Two dead in plane crash'_

Mac looked at Flack. "You found this on his wall?"

"Yea," Flack said and looked Mac over the shoulder. "This article is dated ten years ago, almost to the day. It's about Clay's parents. Clay would've been 13 years old when they died. Their plane crashed and destroyed a house and it's garage. Luckily nobody was home at the time."

Flack then pushed the other article to Mac. "There was one more article about the same crash."

Mac looked at the other article with the headline:

_'Bodies identified in New Hampshire crash'_

Mac quickly read through the article. "Sounds like Clay's father really pushed the limits," Mac said and looked at Flack, who nodded. "Quite a legacy for his son to live up to." Apparently Clay's father had build his own company at the age of 19 – a company that prior to the accident was over 175 million dollars worth. As far Mac as knew the company went broke a few years after the plane crash.

Mac placed the first article back on the table and he then took the wooden box. He could see, that Adam had dusted it for prints.

"All the prints on that box was a match to Clay Sandor," Adam said while he was looking at the box and then at Mac.

The box were painted in some kind of red paint, when Mac opened it he understood, why Adam didn't know what to do with it. On the inside of the lid there were some sort of mechanism where an angel-like figure could fly from one skyscraper, the Empire State Building, to another skyscraper, the AIG Building. But right now it wasn't moving. In the inside of the box, there were a lot of screws. Down in the bottom-left corner, there was a big red and gold colored gear that moved, and in the right upper corner there was a small red and gold colored gear that stood still.

Mac weighted the box, and for a empty box it was too heavy in his mind. He closed the box again and shook it gently. He could hear that there was something inside, therefore there had to be some kind of a hidden room in that box – but where was it and most of all, how would it open?

Mac then looked at Adam. "Did you process these gears?" he asked and pointed at the eight evidence bags with a gear inside.

Adam nodded. "Yes," he said. "And just like the box they only have Clay Sandor's prints on them."

"I wonder what would happen, if we placed the gears on some of the screws?" Mac wondered out loud and began to place the different gears on some of the screws. The first few times he had placed the gears wrong, but then at his fifth try he had all the gears connected to each other. The angel-like figure flew from the Empire State Building to the AIG Building and then there was a little click-noise.

"Touching," Mac said and looked at the hidden compartment that had opened up. He looked at Flack who had raised both of his eyebrows.

"I'd say obsessive."

"There's something here," Mac said and looked back at the box. Apparently Clay had hidden his journal and a business card from a Dr. Coil in this hidden compartment – why Mac didn't know. In this journal Clay had written something about Linc and Dr. Coil.

Mac looked at Hawkes. "I think it's time to talk to Dr. Coil."

30 minutes later, Mac and Hawkes arrived at Dr. Coil's office. Hawkes looked at Mac.

"How sure are you that our victim fell from the 81st floor?"

"I had Adam triple-check the calculations and we still can't figure out where he fell from. At the moment, Dr. Coil's office here is our best guess," Mac answered and walked up to a door with a nameplate that read 'Coil's Cut'.

"Okay, let's check it out," Hawkes said and followed Mac.

Mac grabbed the door handle, but the door wouldn't budge. "Door's locked," Mac said and looked at Hawkes. Mac then knocked on the door, but nothing happened.

"Do you need Dr. Coil?" a woman asked. She was walking down the corridor and she looked suspiciously at Mac and Hawkes.

Mac nodded and showed her his badge. "Yes – we're from the NYPD," he said. "Do you know where Dr. Coil is?"

The woman shook her head. "No I don't," she said. "He's never here on Mondays."

"Thank you," Hawkes said and the woman disappeared around the corner. Hawkes then looked at Mac. "What do we do? Can we get a warrant?"

Mac looked at Hawkes. "That business card is almost enough to justify a warrant. Maybe we can find something else around here," he said and began to look around the place and so did Hawkes. While Hawkes was looking in a trashcan, Mac looked at the elevator and something caught his look. He found his flashlight in his pocket and shone on the frame above the elevator – there was a key. "Odd place to have a key," Mac said and took and put it in an evidence bag.

"Hey Mac," Hawkes said by the window. "Look at this."

Mac went to Hawkes and looked down at the windowsill. "A smudged fingerprint and blood," Mac said and looked back at Hawkes. "Even though it's smudged, let's grab it. Maybe it'll be useful and we will analyze it later." Mac looked at the other blood marks while Hawkes were lifting the print. "Hm... These blood marks are consistent with the vic's bloody fingers," Mac said and studied them closer. "We're on the right track. We've got blood here too." Mac found one of his integri swabs and took a sample of the blood stain. "If we're right, this will prove that this was the window Clay fell from."

Hawkes and Mac continued to search the area surrounding Dr. Coil's office, but found nothing of interest. Mac looked at the smudged print that Hawkes had collected. "If this print and blood matches who I think it will, we'll have enough for a warrant to search 'Coil's Cut'," Mac said and started walking back to the elevator. "I'm heading to the lab."

Back at the lab, Mac gave Adam the smudged print and the blood sample to be analyzed. After that Mac walked back to his office. He would just write the new information on the case, in the case file, but after five minutes he received a text message from Christine:

'_What time will you be home?_

_I'm making lasagna – Lucy's_

_favorite_'

Mac hadn't quite gotten used to that he wasn't alone anymore. Instead of texting her back he would give her a call, and truth to be told – he missed hearing her voice.

"Hi Mac," Christine answered on the second ring. "How is everything at the lab?"

"Busy like always," he said and tuned his chair, so he was facing the window. "That's also why I don't know when I'll be home tonight."

"Oh," Christine said and sounded disappointed. "But you will remember to pick Lucy up from school at 3.15 pm? I have a meeting at 2.00 pm and I'll be home at 5:00 pm."

"I haven't forgot Lucy, Hon," Mac said and checked his watch. The time was 11.05 am and he hoped that he could talk to Dr. Coil before he had to pick Lucy up from school. "But I have to go back to the lab, when you're back home. I'm gonna try to get home before dinner"

Then there were a knock on the door and Mac turned around. In the doorway was Hawkes. Mac turned the chair around again so he was facing the window. "I have to go, see you later. Love you," he said and hung up. He then turned around again facing Hawkes. "What do you have for me?"

"Not me, but Adam," Hawkes said and looked at Mac. "He's waiting for you."

Three minutes later Mac walked up behind Adam, who was looking at the smudged fingerprint.

"Adam, have you put the prints into the computer?" Mac asked.

"Yes I have," Adam said. "I was just about to run them, so that I could tell you the result when you came."

"Let me see it," Mac said and pushed Adam away from the chair.

"Are you sure you want to run the comparison yourself?" Adam asked in a surprised tone.

Mac looked at Adam and raised his one eyebrow. "I do."

"Okay...," Adam said and looked at the screen.

Mac could see, that his young tech were holding back something. "Is there something wrong, Adam?"

"You and Jo are satisfied with my work right?"

"Yes Adam," Mac said, looking Adam in his eyes. "I am one hundred percent satisfied with your work. Believe it or not, sometimes I just like to run my own tests so I can keep myself sharp."

Adam became a little red in his head. "Right," he said quietly. "Uh... Of course. That's good. Um... You should definitely keep doing that."

Adam had done a good job, reproducing Clay's shredded fingerprints. After a few seconds the computer beeped and there were a match. The fingerprints from the windowsill was a match to Clay Sandor. "The prints on the windowsill definitely belonged to Clay Sandor. Now we know where he fell from, but we still have to figure out what happened," Mac said and looked at Adam. "I'm going to call in a warrant for Coil's Cuts."

After Mac had called in for a warrant Flack stepped into his office.

"Mac. Remember that note from the vic's apartment?" he asked and Mac nodded. "I was able to get a hit on the name. Turns out Linc Sark was Clay's manager. He's got an office uptown off Third."

Mac grabbed his coat and walked towards the door. "I'm heading there now. If, I'm lucky I have the warrant for Coil's Cuts when I've checked in with this Mr. Sark."

Out in the hallway he met Jo "You're heading of to Linc Sark?" she asked him.

Mac nodded. "Would you like to join me?"

"Sure thing," Jo said. "I'm just gonna grab my jacket."

Mac and Jo arrived at Mr. Sark's office at 12.15 pm. They went into the office, and in there, there was a man in a dark blue suit, black shirt and a mohawk hair cut. He was sitting behind his desk and he was typing something on his computer.

"Are you Mr. Sark?" Mac asked, and the man looked up from his computer screen.

"Linc Sark, manager of the greatest athletes in the world," the man answered and got up from his chair. "How can I help you?" He gave Mac his hand and shook it.

"I'm Detective Mac Taylor and this is Detective Jo Danville. We're from the New York Crime Lab."

Jo walked one step closer to Mr. Sark. "We have some bad news Mr. Sark. Your client – Clay Sandor – he died the night between Saturday and Sunday."

Mr. Sark plopped down in his chair again. "Clay's dead?" he said shocked. "That won't make my investors happy."

Both Mac and Jo looked at each other, shocked. "I've seen a lot of reactions in my years on the job, Mr. Sark," Jo said with a raised eyebrow. "But I don't think anybody's ever leapt immediately to investment woes – at least not out loud."

Mr. Sark looked up at Jo. "Look, I'm upset, but I'm a businessman first." Just as Mr. Sark had said this his cellphone began to ring. "Hey, I gotta take this call in the other room."

Mac nodded. "Do you mind if we look around?"

Mr. Sark was already half across the office, when he turned to Mac and Jo. "Knock yourselves out." And then he disappeared in the adjoining room.

Mac and Jo began to look around the office, but they didn't find anything of interest. Just a lot of junk, like a model ships, golf clubs and so on. Mac then went to the filing cabinet and opened it.

"What do we have here?" he asked and looked at Jo. "A check for one million dollars to Clay, and it's from Mr. Sark."

Mac then placed the check in an evidence bag. Maybe he was killed because of this check? "That's a hefty salary," Mac said and looked at Jo.

Jo nodded. "Guess I need to rethink what a millionaire looks like," she said with a little smile on her lips. Just then Mr. Sark returned from the other room.

"Sorry about that," he said and looked at Mac. "I had to take that call, just signed a couple great new climbers... Clay was something special though; a natural athlete to the nth-degree – a sports manager's dream." Mr. Sark was now seated behind his desk again an he looked at Mac and Jo.

Mac looked at Mr. Sark. "You make him sound like the next Michael Jordan."

Mr. Sark nodded. "Of extreme sports, sure," he said and turned his head to look at a picture on his desk – a picture of Mr. Sandor. Mac had seen it when Mr. Sark was on the phone. "To watch him move, it was damn near balletic," Mr. Sark continued. "Trust me, we were going places. I was gonna bring the sport Urban Climbing into the limelight, and Clay was our poster boy. Of course that made a lot of his contemporaries jealous. Then just as we were going to ink the biggest deal yet, he disappeared out of sight, and now you say he's dead."

Both Mac and Jo looked at each other before they looked back at Mr. Sark. "Urban Climbing, really?" Mac asked and looked like a question mark.

"You don't believe that Urban Climbing is the next big sport?" Mr. Sark said with mockery in his voice. "Well, even the mainstream media's catching on."

Mac didn't like the way Mr. Sark had said the last thing, but he pretended not to notice. "When was the last time you saw Mr. Sandor?"

Mr. Sark scratched his head. "Couple of weeks back," he then answered. "Clay came to me, said there was a family emergency."

Jo looked at Mr. Sark and raised one of her eyebrows. "What kind of emergency?"

Mr. Sark looked at her. "Dunno. Kept it vague, but he needed a sizable advance," he said and looked at Mac. "Then, ffft, gone. When he didn't answer my calls, I had to do the dance of the seven veils just to keep the deals in play."

The next question flew out of Mac's mouth before he could stop it. "How do you make money off Urban Climbing?"

Mr. Sark smirked. "I've got deals brewing with a half dozen brands – all of them want in when Urban Climbing hits the front pages of every sporting mag in the country."

Mac raised an eyebrow. "So in your mind, Urban Climbing's the next snowboarding or motorcross?"

Mr. Sark crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. "Let me put it in this way," he said like he was a teacher teaching Mac a big lesson. "Clay was set to scale famous skyscrapers around the world, unfurling a giant banner once he reached the top. The stunt would undoubtedly be covered in the international press. Imagine the exposure," Mr. Sark let out a big sigh. "Now I've got to try unwind the deals before they sink me."

Jo walked up to the desk. "You said something about other climbers would be jealous."

Mr. Sark leaned forward in his chair again and looked at Jo. "If you wanna talk to more of these Urban Climbers, they usually hits an underground hipster joint called the'_Club Noir_', in SoHo," he said and leaned back in his chair again. "Funny how a tiny ounce of jealousy blows into a blood feud with these guys."

Mac looked at Jo and then back at Mr. Sark. "Jealous of Clay and the fame you'd bring him?"

Mr. Sark looked at Mac. "To put it delicately, the Van Lars twins are the dumbest couple of half-wits this side of the Neanderthals. And because no sports management company in their right mind will sign them, they badmouth Clay any chance they get.

Mac showed Mr. Sark the check. "I remember you said that Mr. Sandor asked for a sizable advance to this family emergency of his, but one million dollars?"

Mr. Sark looked at Mac. "Let's just say it was a big ouch – big time expensive," he said and looked at Jo. "Whatever his family emergency was, I had little choice if I wanted Clay to perform."

Mac looked at Jo and then back at Mr. Sark. "In other words, you were willing to go the extra distance to make sure Clay did his thing." Mac couldn't believe this man. He talked about Mr. Sandor, like he was some kind of product and not a human being.

Mr. Sark shrugged. "Mollifying all the investors and unwinding the endorsement deals is a heartbreak and a headache all at the same time," he said and continued after a few seconds. "Maybe I should hit 'Club Noir' and try to find a new deal. Who would have guessed, today might be the Van Lars twins big payday.

Both Mac and Jo looked at each other before they looked at Mr. Sark again. Mac then grabbed the evidence bag with the bracelet in his pocket and showed it to Mr. Sark. "Do you know this bracelet?"

Mr. Sark looked at it and nodded. "Oh yeah," he said and sounded suddenly proud. "Those things mark you as part of the pack. You get one after you scale your fifth building – proving you got stones."

Mac looked at Jo and mumbled. "Or maybe a couple of loose marbles."

Unfortunately Mr. Sark heard him. "Ha-ha. Climbers have been wearing them for about a year now," he said and gave Mac a strict glare. "Don't mean to brag, but I had one, too. Didn't really go wit my suit. Keep your eyes open, you'll probably see them around at 'Club Noir' down in SoHo."

"Did you know that Mr. Sandor had a special tattoo?" Jo asked and looked at Mr. Sark.

"Oh yeah, that thing," Mr. Sark answered a little hard and looked at Jo. "I was busting my hump to set up a strategic media push – including a shoot with a famous sports photographer – and I discover Clay was inking himself, which meant the photographer couldn't do the shoot until Clay healed. It meant we had to push the shoot back for weeks. The guy had no head for self-promotion." Mr. Sark looked at them both. "Unless there's something else...?" he then said. "I've got calls to return."

Mac got the hint. It was their cue to leave the office. "No, that should be it."

Back out on the street, Jo looked at the building. "He seems more concerned with Clay's money than Clay's life."

Mac snorted. "He's a manager. What do you expect?" he said and walked towards the Avalanche. "Let's try to catch up with these 'Van Lars twins'. Maybe they can shed some light on this for us."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

When Mac and Jo arrived at the 'Club Noir' in SoHo the clock was 12.50 pm. When they entered they were met with the smell of stuffiness. The bar was one big mess, used cocktail glasses everywhere, people's forgotten clothes, and just like Mr. Sark had told them, there were a lot of those bracelets. Behind the bar counter was two identical young boys with half long light blond hair standing. One of them were wearing some black jeans and a white shirt, the other was wearing some blue jeans, a blue shirt and a black vest.

The two young boys looked at Mac and Jo. "You two look like you're lost," the boy in the white shirt said and looked at his brother.

"They looks like cops," the other brother said before the both started laughing.

Mac and Jo walked up to the counter. "I'm Mac and this is Jo, Crime Scene," Mac said and pointed at Jo. "You must be the famous Van Lars twins.

"He's heard of us!" the one with the vest said in a mocking voice and looked at his brother.

Mac raised an eyebrow and looked at the twins. He really hated those people whose ego is bigger than their own bodies. "Don't get too exited; your pictures are on the wall."

The twins looked annoyed at Mac and Jo could feel the bad mood spread in the room. "You know," she said and looked at the twins. ""You really can't tell the difference on you two. Who's who?"

The twin with the vest looked at Jo as if she was from Mars. "I'm Gus Van Lars and he's Stephen Van Lars." Gus said and then looked at Mac. "So we hear Clay took a dive. The s.o.b. never did have a lick of sense. Guess Linc backed the wrong horse."

"Backed the wrong horse?" Mac asked and looked at Jo before he looked back at the twins.

"Don't know what kind of witchcraft Clay used on poor Linc," Gus said. "Linc's big endorsement scheme was for Clay to climb the highest skyscrapers and reveal a bunch of fancy banners – one big problem with that..."

Jo's lips twisted up in a little smile. "Let me guess. You'd need a pair of binoculars to read an add up that high?"

Stephen let out a laugh. "Exactly. All Clay could talk about was how brilliant his big idea was. But all we could think was Clay's middle name was 'snafu' – stress on the 'afu' part, if you get me. Now all Linc has is a meat sack of client."

Mac didn't get the twins, but instead he looked at Stephen. "You said something about lick of sense – you're not a fan I take it?"

Stephen snorted. "He wasn't just climbing. The guy did everything out there – said he was walking on the bleeding edge – but if you ask anybody else, that edge must have been dull as a butter knife."

Mac looked at Jo and then back at Stephan. "Nice metaphor, but I don't follow."

"Clay was stupid with fashion, drugs, hairstyle," Gus said and looked at Mac. "The guy strutted around like a damn peacock – when in fact everybody was laughing at him behind his back. At least we don't have to look at his down face any more." He looked at his brother with a little sly smile. "Funny how the last time we saw Clay, he was babbling about becoming 'bigger than a myth'... Try flatter than a pancake." Gus then looked at Mac. "Seriously, though – we couldn't make out what he was talking about, some kind of medical thing, and that he was gonna get Linc to pay for it."

Jo nodded and she looked at the twins. "That's all for now. If there's any thing else, give us a call," she said and gave Gus her card.

Gus looked at her card. "Wish we could say we were watching Clay do his big downward spiral. Would've given anything to see that."

Mac raised an eyebrow and looked at Gus. "Careful. A wish like that makes you a murder suspect."

Stephen crossed his arms on his chest. "Cool your wingtips, Sherlock. We were here. Downing drinks and scamming on the trixies."

Mac gave both the Van Lars twins a strict glare. "For your sake, I hope so. I'm heading back to the lab – but both of you should know: one hair from either of you Bobbsey Twins shows up, and you're instant toast."

Just like his brother, Gus crossed his arms over his chest. "You know where to find us, Detective. Good luck."

Just as Mac had turned his back to them, he could hear Gus whispering to his brother. "Who the hell are the Bobbsey Twins?" Mac rolled his eyes – the twins were really dumb and they didn't even know it.

When Mac and Jo were back out on the street, Jo looked at Mac with a big smile on her face.

"What?" Mac asked and looked questioningly at Jo.

"Bobbsey Twins?" Jo asked with a giggle. "Where did that came from?"

Mac shrugged and got into the Avalanche and Jo got in the car too. "It was something my father used to tell people, who thought they were so clever, but in reality they were pretty dumb," Mac said while he looked at Jo. He then started the car and pulled out into the traffic.

"I don't think they killed Clay," Jo said and looked out the window.

"Me neither," Mac answered. "They can't think beyond their own noses." Mac looked at the digital clock in the dashboard; the time was 1.17 pm and he was getting a little hungry. "Do you want to get something to eat?"

Jo looked at Mac and let out a big laugh. "Mac, I can always eat," she said.

Mac chuckled. "You're right. It was a stupid question."

After they had eaten, Mac and Jo were on their way back to lab. Just as he pulled into his parking space, his phone rang.

"Taylor."

"Mac I've found something on the body of Clay Sandor. Can you come to the morgue when you're back at the lab?"

"I'm on my way. Jo and I have just returned," Mac said and ended the call. He then looked at Jo. "It was Hawkes. He found something interesting on Clay's body."

"Okay, I'll see you later," Jo said and opened the door and got out. "And by the way, thanks for dinner."

Mac smiled at her. "You're welcome." He then got out of the Avalanche and looked it. He followed Jo into the elevator and stepped out of the elevator at the morgue.

He found Hawkes looking at some X-rays. "What do you have for me Hawkes?" he asked while he walked up to him.

"So get this," Hawkes said and walked to the body. "This guy might have been into serious surgical modifications. Stuff that's frankly way out there."

Mac looked at the body, and what he saw was really bizarre. He looked up at Hawkes. "What happened to good old days of steel bars and tongue forking?"

Hawkes snorted. "Welcome to five minutes in the future," he said and handed Mac a magnifying glass. "Notice these stainless steel hooks on the scapula?"

Mac looked closer at the area, and he didn't know what to do with it.

"We didn't see them because when he hit the ground back-first, these body modifications were slammed into the skeleton," Hawkes said and continued. "I have no idea what they might be for."

Mac looked at Hawkes. "You're not the only one," he said. "But I can sense that you're not done yet."

"I'm not," Hawkes said. "The clavicle is an artificial bone. Some super light material and very strong." He then took a piece of the bone. "I've just cleaned it. Try running the serial number in the lab. And while you're there, I also have some suspicions about his blood. Maybe you and Adam can figure out what's going on with that weird blood." He handed Mac a picture of the clavicle's serial number and a vial with Clay's blood.

"Thank you, Hawkes," Mac said and took the vial and the picture. "I'm heading to the lab right away."

When Mac entered the lab he felt that for the first time in this case, they were actually going somewhere. The hospital where Clay Sandor had his weird surgery could definitely put the pieces together. Just as he entered, Adam looked up from the screen.

"Back again?"

"There's always something, Adam," Mac said with a little smile on his lips. "I have a serial number from an artificial bone. I want to find out where it came from. And I have some weird blood..."

"Weird blood? How can blood be weird?" Adam said and cut off Mac.

"Hawkes' words, not mine. And what I was about to ask you was if you can see what's going on with it?" Mac said and gave Adam the picture of the serial number and the blood. "I'm thinking since our vic have been going through a surgery, his medication may have an effect on his blood."

Adam nodded. "Let's get to it then." Adam then began to type in the serial number on the computer and Mac looked at the screen over Adam's shoulders.

"Wow," Adam said when the result came up on the screen. He looked at Mac, who stood with a raised eyebrow. "Looks like Coil's Cuts designed and ordered those artificial bones from the manufacturer."

Mac nodded. "And their office is down the hall from the fall location."

Adam looked back at the screen again. "And plus the victim had their business card," he said and looked back at Mac. "Besides the artificial bones, Clay was covered in needle marks."

Mac looked at Adam and scratched his chin. He was more and more convinced that they were on the right track. "You thinking what I'm thinking, that Clay was dosing himself to tweak his body?"

Adam shrugged. "I'm not sure yet," he said and looked back at the screen. "But I'll examine the blood sample that Dr. Hawkes gave you. Hopefully that will give us some answers."

"Thank you Adam," Mac said and headed back to his office.

While he walked, he thought that it was nice to be back at work again. Not that he hadn't enjoyed his honeymoon, because he had, but he had missed using his head in those three weeks in Europe. But on the other hand, he missed being together with Christine and Lucy, and he was looking forward to... Then a thought hit him hard. He had totally forgot all about Lucy. He looked at his clock, 2.50 pm. "Damn it," he said and spun around on his heel and ran towards Jo's office.

When he arrived at Jo's office, he knocked on the glass door and stepped in. "Jo," he said and let out a deep breath.

Jo looked at Mac and she couldn't help but smile when she saw him. It was very rare to see him so flustered and stressed out for no reason. "Take it easy Mac," she said between her giggles. "What's happening?"

Mac looked at Jo. "I don't have time to explain properly," Mac said while he was trying to get his breath under control. "I have to pick up Lucy from school and stay with her until Christine's coming home. She's at a meeting. You're in charge of the lab till I get back in a couple of hours."

And before Jo could say anything, Mac had already disappeared down the hallway towards the elevators. "Okay Mac," Jo said to nobody. "It was nice talking to you too." She shook her head and continued reading on the screen.

On his way to 'Charrette School' in Greenwich Village, Mac thought about turning the police siren and light on, so he could get to Lucy's school faster. But it wasn't allowed outside the job, and he didn't want his ass to be chewed off by Sinclair.

Due to several traffic jams, Mac arrived at Lucy's school at 3.25 and he couldn't see her anywhere. He parked his Avalanche in front the school and walked up the stairs to the front door. He really hoped that Lucy still was at the school and that she hadn't taken the school bus home. Then his phone beeped and he took it from his pocket. It was a text message from Jo:

_'I've got a call from Lucy's_

_school. I told them you_

_were coming. Lucy_

_is in the office.'_

Mac ran trough the halls on his hunt for the office. When he finally found it he opened the door and stepped inside. He let his gaze wander trough the room, and spotted Lucy sitting on a chair by one of the Secretaries' desks. Lucy was looking down at the floor, and she swung her legs back and forth. When she looked up and saw Mac, she didn't look happy to see him.

Mac walked up to her and squatted in front of her. "Hi Pumpkin," Mac said quietly and gently placed his right hand on Lucy's left knee, stroking it softly.

Lucy jerked her knee away from Mac and turned away from him. Mac couldn't help to think, that he deserved that because he had forgotten her.

"Are you Mr. Taylor?"

Mac looked up and he saw a tall, blond woman, dressed in a black skirt, a white shirt and a black jacket. He got back up on his feet and nodded. "Yes," he said and shook her hand. "I'm Mac Taylor."

"I'm Mrs. McQuinn, the Principal," she said and looked at Mac. "We look very strictly on parents and guardians who forget to pick up their children, Mr. Taylor."

Mac looked down at Lucy before he looked back at Mrs. McQuinn. "I was caught up in work, but I'll promise you, it will never happen again," he said and took Lucy's backpack up from the floor. Just as he gave Lucy his hand, Mrs. McQuinn spoke.

"Lucy, stay here while I talk to Mr. Taylor," she said and looked from Lucy till Mac. "If you will follow me to my office, Mr. Taylor."

Mac raised an eyebrow. Why would Mrs. McQuinn make such a big deal out of it – he was only ten minutes late. But instead of arguing with Mrs. McQuinn, he followed her into her office. Mrs. McQuinn's office was actually huge, not as big as his own, but almost the same size. Just like in his own office, she had the American flag behind her desk, and she had various diplomas on her walls.

"Please have a seat Mr. Taylor," she said, while she placed herself in her chair behind the desk.

Mac took a seat and looked at her. Suddenly he felt like a little schoolboy who had done something wrong. "Mrs. McQuinn, is all this really necessary?" Mac asked, while Mrs. McQuinn leaned back in her chair. "To put it bluntly, Mrs. McQuinn," Mac continued and leaned a little bit forward in his somewhat uncomfortable chair. "It's the first time, my wife and I babysit Lucy in a work week. But I can assure you, that this is the first and last time that I forget to pick her up."

Mrs. McQuinn sat with her hands folded and looked strictly at Mac. He cared less and less about that woman who sat in front of him.

"Mr Taylor," she said with a little sigh. "Everybody sings that same song over and over again. You're just like everybody else, who can't figure out how to lead and guide other than yourself..."

"Whoa, whoa. Wait a second," Mac had interrupted her in a hard voice. "I'm actually the head of the New York Crime Lab, therefore I'm fully capable to guide and lead people. But like I said before, it's the first time for me to have a child in a work week, and therefore nothing I'm used to."

"All these are just poor excuses, Mr. Taylor," she said and looked at Mac like his words didn't mean anything to her. " I intend to tell Mr. and Mrs. Messer about this incident. They need to know how poor you are with children."

Mac should really pull himself together, not to say something he would regret later on. "You do what you want to do, Mrs. McQuinn," Mac said in an ice cold voice. "The Messers have trust in me. And if there's nothing more, I'm leaving with Lucy." Mac gave Mrs. McQuinn one last deadly gaze, before he spun around on his heel and left her office.

Out in the Secretaries' office Lucy was still sitting in the same chair, and she looked just as mad and sad like when he had stepped into Mrs. McQuinn's office. "Ready to go home, Luce?", Mac asked her and gave her his hand, but Lucy didn't take it. Instead she got up from the chair and walked to the door and disappeared around the corner. In many ways, Lucy was the exact image of Lindsay. Mac hurried after Lucy for two reasons: 1) He wouldn't allow her to be all by herself out on the street, and 2) he wouldn't risk meeting Mrs. McQuinn again.

Lucy was already halfway down the hallway, when Mac was by her side. She still ignored him and he wouldn't force her to talk to him, not here at the school anyway. When they were out on the street, Mac unlocked the Avalanche and Lucy opened the right backdoor and jumped into the backseat. Mac then made sure that she was strapped properly, closed the door and walked behind the Avalanche to get in himself. He started the car and pulled out into the initial rush hour traffic. A few times he looked at Lucy through the rear mirror; she was just looking out the window.

"Luce, I'm so sorry," Mac said and looked back at the traffic. "I know that I can't say anything right now, that will make you forget what happened. The only thing I can say is, it will never happen again." He looked at Lucy through the rear mirror again, and saw that she looked at him from the corner of her eyes. Mac turned his gaze back at the road and the traffic, and he couldn't help but think that it was at least a little progress. The rest of the ride home took place in a deep silence.

When they entered the apartment, Lucy ran directly into her room and slammed the door shut. Mac placed his keys in the little bowl on the merchant sideboard and hung his jacket on the coat rack. He knew that he had to talk to Lucy, about what had happened, and he had to do it before Christine was back home again. But Mac hadn't any clue of how to talk to a little angry six-year old girl, who wouldn't talk to him. Therefor he took his cellphone and dialed Jo's number. She had, after all, more experience with children than he had.

"Danville."

"It's me. Do you have a few minutes? I'm in a little jam with Lucy."

Jo chuckled. "Let me guess, she won't speak to you?"

"How did you know that?" Mac asked in disbelieve. Sometimes it scared him how much Jo knew him.

Jo chuckled again. "Mac, she's never been forgotten before," Jo said and continued. "She was placed outside the principal's office, where everyone could see her. She's just embarrassed. My best advice to you is, give her some time, and in the meantime make something to her, something that she likes. When she's ready to come out, you and her can talk about what happened today."

While Jo was talking, Mac couldn't help but think that it was good that he didn't have children of his own – he would never have survived it. "Okay Jo," Mac said and looked down the hall to Lucy's room. "Thank you for the advice. See you in a couple of hours."

"Glad that I could help," Jo said. "I'm always here for you."

Mac ended the call and took a seat in the couch. What could he make, that would make Lucy happy again? He briefly thought about making the lasagna, which after all, was her favorite food, but then they wouldn't have anything to eat later on. Instead he walked out in the kitchen and opened the freezer and found some vanilla ice creme and a frozen berries mix. In the cupboard, he found the food processor and 15 minutes later he placed two large dessert glass, with his own famous milkshake, on the coffee table. He then walked to Lucy's closed door and knocked on it.

"Lucy, I know that you're embarrassed," Mac said softly. "I'm embarrassed too. I'm sorry that I've hurt you. If you wanna talk about it, I'll be out in the living room and I've made my famous milkshake." He listened a few seconds, but he couldn't hear anything. Most of all, he would like to open the door, walk in and place himself on the bed, and make Lucy talk to him. But despite what he would like to do, he turned around and walked back to the living room. He took a seat on the couch and turned the TV on. He watched the news, but they didn't tell him anything new. There was announced a cutback in the public sector – again, President Obama stood firm on the NSA surveillance act and how easy it was to get an illegal firearm in New York City. Mac took a sip of his milkshake and changed channel and found an animated movie, _'Horton Hears a Who'_. He hoped that the sound could help to lure Lucy out of her room.

Five minutes later, Mac could hear Lucy open her door very slowly. His plan had worked. Mac looked from the TV screen to the hallway, and he saw Lucy standing by the corner. "Hi Pumpkin," he said in a warm voice. "It's nice to see you again."

Lucy didn't say anything but started to walk down the four steps to the living room. When she reached the couch, she took a seat in the opposite end of Mac. She looked at the other milkshake but she didn't take it. Mac then pushed the glass towards her and looked back at the screen. Jo had said that it was up to Lucy, when she wanted to talk. From the corner of his eye, he could see Lucy pick up the glass and take a sip. She then licked her lips and looked at the TV screen. Mac knew they would be okay again, before the day was over.


End file.
